Carter Vanforth
Beyond the Breach |height= 5'10" / 1.77 m |weight= 180 lbs |birthplace =Grand Hamlet, Brightwood |residence=Seastone Keep, Northern Stranglethorn |guild=The Ardent CircleWyrmrest Accord Vanforth - WoW Armory |affiliations=Order of the Silver Hand Alliance of Lordaeron :Alliance Expedition :Sons of Lothar Wrynn's Hospitalers |alignment= |faction=Alliance |class=Paladin }} Sir Carter Vanforth is a Knight-Lieutenant of the Alliance Expedition and a founding council member of the Ardent Circle. He was one of the many knights who ventured to the orc homeworld of Draenor during the Second War, with the goal of destroying the Horde once and for all. Over the next two decades, Carter remained on the shattered world until the reopening of the Dark Portal. He has since served the Chivalric Order of Wrynn's Hospitalers and co-founded the Order of the Ardent Circle alongside his son Walter Vanforth. Biography Carter Vanforth was born to a cleric and a blacksmith over three decades prior to the Opening of the Dark Portal, in the township of Grand Hamlet, Brightwood, current day Darkshire. When Carter came of age, he joined the Stormwind Army, serving initially as a guardsmen at the local barracks. He continued his service there in Grand Hamlet for fifteen years, rising up to the rank of Sergeant. As he continued his service, Carter participated in various operations throughout the Kingdom of Azeroth. During one of these operations, Carter and several other units were tasked with rescuing a noble’s son and daughter, who had been taken as captives by the gnolls in the eastern Redridge Mountains. After successfully rescuing the children from the gnolls, Carter was knighted by King Llane for his service to the Kingdom of Azeroth, and dubbed a Knight of Stormwind.Tumblr - Sir Carter Vanforth The First War It wasn't long before the Orcish Horde began their invasion of Azeroth. Carter, now a Knight, stationed near Deadwind Pass, witnessed some of the most intense fighting at the very onset of the conflict, being one of the first townships in the Orc’s path. Carter was seriously wounded, and spent several weeks recovering. During his time recovering, Carter briefly romanced a cleric. Carter, having recovered from the fight against the Horde, retreated to Lordaeron under Anduin Lothar’s command. He became one of the early members of the Silver Hand. He eventually married the cleric he had met back south in Azeroth, and fathered a boy named Walter. The Second War After their formation, the Alliance of Lordaeron retaliated against the Horde. Carter assisted in the push to retake his hometown of Grand Hamlet, and then continued to drive back the Horde to the Dark Portal. Returning to what had been his home, Carter settled with his wife, and son — aiming to start over. The call for the Alliance Expedition was sounded as the Orcish Horde threatened to rise once more from the far side of the Dark Portal. Carter answered this call, and charged through the Dark Portal, and was presumed lost with the rest of the Expedition. Beyond the Dark Portal After being trapped beyond the Dark Portal, Carter helped establish Vanguard, a massive fortress designed to safeguard the Dark Portal, and then later Honor Hold, both in what had been the Tanaan Jungle. Over the following years, Carter assisted the Alliance Expedition during their campaign on Draenor. Following the destruction of Draenor, and its transformation into the Outlands, Carter and many of the Sons of Lothar were scattered. Managing to return to Honor Hold, he and many others held out for several years against countless onslaughts by a myriad of threats, including the Orcish Horde and the Burning Legion. While on a mission to destroy a forward outpost held by the Horde, Carter was captured and kept as a prisoner. Brutally tortured and forced to fight in gladiator pits, Carter languished in captivity for over a decade. Carter, as well as several other captives, revolted and escaped - returning to the Sons of Lothar, this time based out of Allerian Hold. After fighting against the necromancers in the wastelands of western regions of the Outlands, Carter returned to Honor Hold after fourteen years away. When the Legion began to probe the Outlands for vulnerabilities in preparation for their invasion, Carter and the Sons of Lothar at Honor Hold began to fend off incursions from the Legion's strike teams. Burning Crusade When the Dark Portal reopened once more, Carter, among others from the Alliance Expedition, were reunited once more with forces from Azeroth. However, Carter became untrusting of the Alliance after learning that they have sided with the same Horde that he fought against for decades. He became hesitant to involve himself with the faction apart from military advancements. He assisted in the push to the Black Temple. Unwilling to return to Azeroth, refusing to associate with the faction that would take sides with the Horde, Carter remained in the Outlands after receiving no word of his son, Walter. He learned, however, that his wife had passed away a few years before the arrival of Alliance forces in the Outlands. Learning of the evolution of the Horde and Alliance conflict into full scale war, Carter resolves to return to the Alliance on Azeroth, if only to help drive back the Horde, and hopefully eliminate them once and for all. Wrynn's Hospitalers The Ardent Circle Talon of Norgannon Battle for Azeroth Physical appearance A grandfatherly sort, he's got the grizzled looks of a war worn man who never put down his blade, and still bears the weight of his armor, and his nightmares. He plainly bears the tabard of the Silver Hand, but also carries around his neck a pendant with the sigil of the Sons of Lothar, buried beneath his breast-plate; the sigil is well aged, dating back some thirty years. Personality and traits Stranded beyond the Dark Portal for some twenty years, Carter way to set aside his regrets and sorrows, and instead filled his heart and soul with hatred and anger. Once a humble and sympathetic Paladin, the wars he has endured have brought about a great deal of change within him, and not all for the better. A staunch opponent of the Horde, both new and old, he’s clung fast to old hatreds that fuel his drive to see the Alliance safe and secured. It isn’t just the enemies of old, however, which have been the subject his ire; he has become weary of those who insist upon peace, when time after time he has come to see only that the Horde, in the end, has returned to its true nature - savagery. For him, he simply cannot understand how any could ever come to believe that the monsters which took from him nearly everything, could ever be anything more than just that - monsters. Now, with the greatest threat Azeroth has ever seen looming over the future he has fought to protect, he is trying to grapple with his own reasoning for waging a war on two fronts, while still trying to protect the Alliance he has pledged his life to, knowing well it is only a matter of time before the Horde once again shows its true colors. Notes and references Category:Characters Category:Alliance Category:Alliance Paladin Category:Deceased Characters